


Part of Their World

by ADashOfStarshine (ADashOfInsanity)



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Genre: Crack Fic, F/M, Lyon is a creepy merman, M/M, Parody
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-02
Updated: 2013-09-02
Packaged: 2017-12-25 10:04:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/951804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ADashOfInsanity/pseuds/ADashOfStarshine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>L'Arachel wants to be where the people are. Lyon wants her to shut up and go away. Fortunately the darkest of magics can make both their dreams a reality. In fact everything seems to be going swimmingly until Lyon finds himself the unlikely rescuer of a particularly striking human male.  </p>
<p>The Little Mermaid meets Magvel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Part of Their World

“And it’s so beautiful! They dance upon the sands and their clothes flow beautifully in the air, not in a wet kind of way, there’s this cool sort of flow in the air and it makes their clothes flare out as they twirl about together. Then they cook and eat upon the beach and the smell! There are sweet things and meat things and…”

If planting your face upon the nearest cave wall was an acceptable action for polite company, Lyon would have done it by now. His father had invited the royal family from a distant ocean to visit them for a while so they could negotiate the trading standards between the two realms. Whilst the Kings had their important meetings in the Pearl Hall, it had been assumed that each of the royal heirs would like nothing better than to spend their afternoons together to get to know each other. Lyon considered whoever had decided that, a fool. He had never met a crazier, louder, or positively more irritating, mermaid. Princess L’Arachel would not shut up about her little trips to the surface. Apparently she thought humanity was the best thing in the entire sea.. Well not sea, she wanted to go to the land and watch them. The land, where the nets came from. The land, with hooks and barbs and dead dolphins… She was clearly mad! 

“Sometimes they swim and they’re so close! Sometimes you wish you could just go up and touch them! Those men and their rippling muscles…”

Lyon flicked his tail fins in irritation before deciding he’d had enough. He left through the cave’s window and swam back through the coral gardens to the royal palace. He just wanted to get back to his research in the lovely peace and quiet of his study. Was that too much to ask? Before now he thought there would never be an official situation that he couldn’t put up with. Usually he just stayed quiet and out the way like his father wished, but now… He simply could not tolerate Princess L’Arachel. Everything from her over-eager babble to the gemstones twined round her emerald tail that dazzled his eyes. He’d got to such a pivotal point in his research when her family had arrived and he’d been forced to drop everything just to spend time with her. Well, no more!

“Is this your magic room? Look at all these bottles! You’re one of those darker sort of magic users aren’t you? Look at all these horrible things!” 

He almost cried. She had followed him! Why had she followed him? Why couldn’t she just leave him alone!

“I know!” She exclaimed, “Why don’t you make me one of your enchantment potion things so I can go up to the beach and dance with the humans?!”

“If I do will you kindly leave me alone until it is finished?” he asked, realising this may finally be the chance to get rid of her. What if he ‘accidentally’ made the effects irreversible? He could easily blame her for it if they were. He could say she had drunk the potion when it wasn’t ready yet. 

“Of course!” she trilled, “I’ll let you get right to it!” With that she mercifully departed in a stream of bubbles.

Lyon sighed and looked about his research space. Well he had two options now. He could not make said potion and just make her leave him in peace due to the prospect of it. Or he could try and make it and hopefully live a life of L’Arachel free bliss. Both were feasible options but then again, he was always curious and ready to push the boundaries of normal magic. It would be an interesting experiment to undertake and if it went wrong…well it was going to look diplomatically terrible but it would be rather easy to foist the blame onto her noisy highness. He considered the consequences. It was against the law to fraternise with the humans. Even trips to surface weren’t allowed unless for very particular reasons. Luckily for Lyon, potion and therefore medicine ingredients were an acceptable cause. That was a good thing too. He would need to go and gather some of the humans' debris for this particular potion. 

So yes, he was making this potion. It would have to be powerful. It would be fuelled by the sea and shore alike with a binding agent so strong that no substance on land could break it. Also if L’Arachel was going to stay on the land forever it didn’t need to break. Lyon looked in the adjoining rooms for his dull-tailed assistant, found him nowhere, so decided to go to the library by himself.

\----

This sort of thing had never been tried before. Why would it? No reasonable merperson would want to be a human. Besides, what was so good up there? A blinding sun, shouting people, no coral, pearls or even hot vents to speak of… Did they even have magic up there? It all seemed rather horrid and uncultured in his opinion. He browsed the stone tablets in the library, casting an eye over everything and anything about transformation. This was a fairly untouched area of magic. Merpeople loved being merpeople. Why wouldn’t they be? They never had to think of transfiguring themselves.

“Your highness.” Ah there Knoll was. He had no idea where the indigo tailed merman lived but he always found him either in the magic room or in here. Both areas were rather dark, and through Knoll’s tail did have a shimmering about it, the darkness of its hue as well as his bizarre need to wrap himself up in a shroud, meant he blended in quite well.

“Ah Knoll, you don’t know anything about using magic for transformation do you?”

“Only a little your highness,” Knoll replied, “May I ask why you wish to transform?”

“I don’t wish to transform,” Lyon stated, inspecting another tablet, “Princess L’Arachel wants to be a human for a bit and she won’t leave me alone unless I make her something.”

“She is very loud isn’t she?”

“Indeed.”

Without being asked, Knoll began to inspect the stones too. They worked silently for most of the afternoon until finally Lyon made a decision.

“We’re going to need ingredients from the shore,” he said suddenly, making Knoll jerk in surprise, “It’s got to have something human about it. I’m going to go gathering this evening and see what I can find.”

“No, your highness,” Knoll swam in front of him as if to block his way, “It is incredibly dangerous up there. His Majesty is already ill, being worried may not be good for his health.”

“Father wouldn’t worry about me,” Lyon replied dismissively, “Besides he won't know I'm gone. He’s too busy with the Rausten guests. Also I won’t be gone long enough for him to notice.”

“Let me go with you your highness,”

“I appreciate your generous offer, but we’d be more conspicuous if there were two of us. If anyone is going to get hurt, I’d rather it was just me.” He spoke with such an air of finality that Knoll gave in. 

“I’m going to pick up some containers and then head to the shore,” Lyon said, “Make sure that no one does notice I’m gone.” He didn’t need to ask, no one would notice his disappearance, but Knoll liked to have something to occupy him.

“Of course, your highness.”

Lyon left at once, stopping by the magic room for a belt containing pouches, something he’d made from debris left from a shipwreck. Inside said pouches were shells he had managed to attach clasps to, they were perfect, though sometimes quite fragile, containers that were easily enchanted. Though he had had a few accidents, they worked most of the time and that was the main thing. Shipwrecks were a lot rarer these days and the human's containers, though superior, were getting rarer and rarer.

He left the palace through the window so not to rouse suspicions. The trip was a simple one, if one mapped it, it would be a straight diagonal from the city to the surface. He swam out, barely weighed down by his equipment. By the time he got there it would undoubtedly be late in the evening. Well, one less diplomatic dinner never hurt anyone.

When Lyon reached the surface he covered his eyes to ward of the brightness of the dying sun. He was right, it was the evening. The humans weren’t about, they all undoubtedly had gone to bed or were having dinner in whatever kind of structures they had. This would be a perfectly safe trip, no one ever really went on this beach any…

“I beat you with the bottle and I will beat you at the ENTIRE SEA!”

A shouting human! Lyon recoiled, darting back before anyone could notice him. 

“You couldn’t!”

“I WILL. I will swim out further than you can! It will be our next competition!”

“Of course!”

Lyon dared look above the waves and saw a human run straight into the ocean whilst his fellow human male stayed on the beach. As he watched the first human swam out with a power and speed that was quite impressive for a non-merperson. His friend however got up and walked in the opposite direction, seemingly consumed by laughter. Lyon frowned. What a bizarre excuse for a competition! Why was the other man just leaving? He was walking up the beach and up what seemed to be some kind of slope. Lyon could no longer see him and yet his friend was still swimming. 

Wait?

Where was the other human gone?

He dived under water just in time to see a body sinking rapidly. Maybe the human wasn’t so good a swimmer after all. Lyon suddenly remembered in horror that humans could not breathe underwater. The man was going to die! Merpeople and humans were not meant to interact but… The man was going to die, there was no choice! Besides, no one would know!

With a burst of speed he shot towards the drowning human. The man’s arms and strange legs were above him as he fell, he looked like a child forlornly asking to be carried about. It was a vulnerable pitiable pose and Lyon swam as fast as he could and grabbed the man under his arms. 

So heavy! What did the humans eat? Rocks? It would explain why they sank so easily. He fought desperately to take the man to the surface, fighting the tides with all his might. He thrashed his tail in desperation. With all his sea-based knowledge, he had no idea how long humans could survive in it! Just as panic began to set in he broke the surface of the water. He made sure the man’s head was above the waves as he frantically tried to pull him to the shore. It wasn’t easy. Despite only wearing some sort of covering over the top half of his legs, the man was far heavier than anything Lyon would usually lift. 

Finally they reached the shore, allowing the tide to sweep them up in a mess of dislodged sand and pebbles. Exhausted, Lyon rolled over to see what shape the human was in. He laid the man out upon the sand and took the opportunity to get a better look at what exactly he had saved.

_Oh._ Oh good golly. 

He was surely sculpted by a god. So muscular yet so lean and lithe, nothing like those horrible brawny mermen that fought for his father. He brushed the man’s sodden turquoise fringe from his eyes to thoroughly inspect his face. So handsome… So strong looking. His hair was the colour of the clearest waters and once dry was probably as wild as an unkempt weed bed. He placed a hand upon the man’s chest, partially to see how he fared and partially just because he wanted to touch. He was still breathing, roughly, but he was alive and that was what mattered. Lyon didn’t have any the tools for an attempt at resurrection with him, though the idea of having this gorgeous human as his undead vassal was very tempting. Of course the undead didn’t need to breathe so he could just take him under the water with him and…

He was jolted from his musing by a shuddering gasp. The human was awake! He scrabbled back to the water the best he could but not before his eyes met the gaze of a pair the colour of the warmest depths. The man stared at him and Lyon stared straight back only for a moment more before disappearing into the tide.

His heart beat frantically as he swam back home. Surely that couldn’t be a human? A demi-god perhaps? However would a demi-god drown in the first place? There was no doubt about it. He’d have to come back tomorrow for another look. He needed to see that man again. He wanted to see how he walked, how he ran, how he danced. He wanted to know everything about him. No, he _needed_ to know everything about him, as soon as possible! He would definitely come tomorrow.

\-----

Under the excuse of needing more potion ingredients, Lyon journeyed to the surface again. There was a convenient outcropping of rock few metres from the shore and there Lyon waited, occasionally using his tail to splash water onto himself. He hadn’t anticipated how hot and glaring the sun would be over the waves. He was naturally rather pale and L’Arachel had told him how the humans changed colour in the sun. He certainly didn’t want to do that. Still, the way the sun glinted off his scales was rather mesmerising. Little dots of light spanned the rock he lay on and as he shifted the purples of his tails sparkled and shimmered like precious jewels. Maybe the human man would like that if they were ever to meet. Humans liked shiny things apparently.

He set his gaze back on the shore as the tide lapped about his midriff. The spray was helping with the heat and… There he was! The man was back, fully covered this time in a blue covering over his torso and brown coverings over his legs. Humans were so strange in their need to cover everything. Lyon definitely preferred it when the man had his blue covering off, in fact, he would like all the coverings off. The man seemed to be searching for something, or someone. The man must remember him! Lyon ducked and peered over the edge of the rock. The man was in the place he had left him last night, he was looking at the ground.

Suddenly Lyon heard something that almost had him bolting back into the sea. Another human had joined the man on the beach. A female human with long hair that flowed like a mermaid’s as she ran, her eyes were like his and so was her face… a sibling? He was incredibly handsome and she was utterly beautiful. The way she ran with such grace, such elegance! Lyon placed his head in his hands and simply stared as she caught up with her brother. They were a stunning pair, like a set of statues from the coral gardens, impossibly perfect. Lyon inched a little closer, the wind was in the perfect direction to hear what they were saying.

“Ephraim!” exclaimed the woman, “Ephraim! I don’t know what you’re looking for! Some local fisherman’s daughter must have pulled you out. There’s no such thing as mermaids!”

“No, I know it was a mermaid,” Ephraim said firmly. Ephraim, what a bizarre but wonderful name, Lyon thought as he watched on.

“You were drunk,” said his sister in exasperation, “You didn’t even realise Innes hadn’t got into the water with you. Who knows what you saw when you got washed out.”

“Eirika, it was a mermaid. She had a tail and everything,” Ephraim insisted, “Her hair was a pale purple and her tail was a glittering dark sort-of plum colour. She was really pale and had huge eyes. I know what I saw.”

“Was she pretty?”

“Yes. Well, she was quite flat-chested but she was really beautiful.” Lyon gave a happy wiggle on his rock. Ephraim thought he was beautiful! He would have preferred handsome, or…strikingly manly, but beautiful would do! Ephraim had liked his tail after all!

So you got drunk then imagined being rescued, and then touched up by, a beautiful young topless mermaid. Now you want to tell everyone about it, including the Frelians, as if this is some sort of victory. Not exactly the example of princely behaviour Father wanted is it?”

A prince! Ephraim was a prince and that meant Eirika was a princess! Lyon didn’t know why he was so excited about the fact all three of them shared the same status. They would never be allowed to meet, what he was doing even now was incredibly taboo, but if he was a human…well he’d stand a chance wouldn’t he? Not that he could ever be quite as handsome and strong looking as Ephraim or as graceful and refined as Eirika. Still, he could dream of being in their company…

He watched the two royal siblings until they left the beach. Ephraim gave up on his search to find his mermaid saviour and they had just talked for a while. The two were very close it seemed. Lyon had often wondered what it was like to have a sibling and here seemed to be the perfect example. They argued occasionally but this seemed to be in jest and never amounted to anything serious. Of course siblings were nothing unusual to merpeople, or humans it seemed, but it was most peculiar to Lyon. Having another family member who you could actually spend time with seemed quite the novelty, a luxury even. What was it like? Did it always seem so fun? Now he had another excuse to watch these splendid humans some more. They were both wonderful and fascinating! Much more entertaining than Princess L’Arachel and her horrid pestering to make that…

To make that potion to visit the humans!

No, he couldn’t jump to any conclusions. The plan had been to get rid of L’Arachel, not to take any risks. Besides he’d only seen Ephraim twice and Eirika once. He couldn’t give up his place in the ocean just to spend time with such splendid _perfect_ humans… He would have to do some more observation and then form a conclusion from his findings. That seemed the best course of action to take right now.

Once the humans had gone away, he returned home. Knoll was waiting for him looking slightly worried. Lyon took his place back in the library before asking what was the matter. Knoll seemed rather perplexed by his cheerful tone but answered nevertheless

“His Majesty your father had to cancel all his meetings tomorrow because he is currently too unwell to continue.”

“Oh,” was Lyon’s response, all elation from his trip to the surface sinking as swiftly as a stone tablet, “Have you inquired as to his state? Does he need anything?”

“The healers have him well attended,” Knoll replied, “I thought you may wish to inquire after him yourself.”

“I will,” Lyon leant upon the shelves as he allowed himself to sink to the sandy ground. He was researching the wrong thing and he knew it. Who needed transformation potions when the Emperor was dying? He had spent every moment up to the arrival of the Rausten Royal Family trying to come up with the most extravagant of cures. He had scoured these shelves so often, mixed ingredients worth their weight in pearls, lost good mermen to fishing boats just to get so called miracle foods that could keep his father in good health. All of it was in vain. His father was only getting worse, and more horrible than that were the rumours that this was it. Soon Lyon would have to take his place and rule the reef and all beyond. All the murmurers and mutterers who liked to gossip about how he couldn’t lift a spear. All those who said he was as fragile as his mother, well they were expecting him to rule this ocean now! They knew he couldn’t. They had said he couldn’t. So why...!

“How was your trip to the surface your highness?”

“Much better than my return,” Lyon muttered, more to himself than Knoll.

\------------

Lyon’s days fell into a routine of half-bliss and half-torture. He had learnt that the humans were most active upon the beach in the evenings. Every evening, without fail, he would climb his rock and watch them as the sun shot pinks and lilacs across the dulling sky. The way the dying light glimmered across the soaked bodies of his favourite humans.... The way that muscles rippled and powerful legs did astonishing leaps and bounds as the humans played…it was all quite spectacular. As much as he loathed to admit it, in a way, L’Arachel was right. The humans were mesmerising. However she was wrong about one thing. Not all humans were so perfect, the others weren’t nearly as glorious as Ephraim and Eirika. The twins, Lyon had learnt they were so, were a heavenly sight to behold. Their faces, their laughter, their smiles… He wanted to see them up close. He wanted them to laugh at a joke he’d made, he wanted them to smile just for him. He wanted to be their friend like the other humans on the beach. He wanted to be embraced, to hold hands, to even do that play wrestling thing and have water poured on his face. 

He would watch until they retired for the night, kicking out their strange light and taking all their food and toys inside. Lyon sometimes liked to stare at the strange light. He had never seen anything like it and surely it must be a sort of magic. He loved looking at new magic and if humans had it after all and Eirika and Ephraim could control it… He could learn this human magic off them!

The humans’ magic and merpeoples’ magic were evidently different. Perhaps the solution to his father’s illness was up there, in the humans’ magic. It was a solution that certainly didn’t exist under the sea, that was for sure. Thus came his torture. His father was getting worse. Even if Knoll and the healers weren’t going to tell him he could see how his father’s health waned. The day was drawing near when all had to change. The day where he’d truly be alone was approaching and his father hadn’t even spoken to him about it. How was he supposed to be Emperor? How was he not going to ruin everything? He couldn’t cope with it. Surely there was some warrior or General or… No. No, there was no avoiding it. He was supposed to be prepared but no one had ever told him how to be an Emperor! He couldn’t even make a cure for his father, how was he supposed to sort out an entire nation! It was hopeless!

He crushed pieces of rare coral and used the thick liquid from the surface as a binding agent. Finding liquids that sunk were unusual so they had to have some sort of significant property about them. He had learnt how to manipulate them with his magic. He could imbue them with all sorts of properties, none of which had helped in the slightest. However this time he wasn’t making a cure. Something Knoll had noticed.

“What are you creating your highness?” The ominous purple light coming from Lyon’s table had inevitably caught his eye. He swam over in time to see a small stream of blood dissipate into the water. He picked up a staff which had sunk to the floor and waved it over his liege’s arm, just in case.

“Thank you,” Lyon replied, “You’re a very good friend Knoll.”

“Pardon your highness?” To say Knoll was taken-aback was something of an understatement. He showed it only briefly but the fact he had dropped the staff was indication enough. 

“I really appreciate everything you’ve done for and with me,” Lyon continued, “You make the ocean seem a little less lonely. In my gratitude, I want you to have my magic room, all my tablets, everything I own, once I meet with L’Arachel and leave.”

“Leave?!” Knoll repeated, “Your highness, where are you going?”

Lyon merely smiled and showed him a shell full of a thick brown liquid that looked like mud. The purple glow was not emanating from that, but from the shell itself and a pendant Lyon was wearing about his neck. It was a confection of coral and more shells, each had evidently been bloodied at some point and the blood had been made to stick.

“That’s…Princess L’Arachel’s potion,” Knoll commented.

“It _was_ Princess L’Arachel’s potion,” Lyon corrected, “Though please, don’t say anything about it. I sent a messenger after her, she should be here soon.”

Knoll opened his mouth as if to make an objection but then closed it again. He clearly knew what Lyon was planning and it wasn’t too difficult to figure out why he was doing it too. Yet he couldn’t help but stare as Lyon made his final preparations. He put away all his possessions very neatly, as if he was going to come back to them the following day. He ordered his tablets for ease of reference He cleared up his table, leaving only that shell container of muck behind. Lyon kept an eye on his assistant as he did so however. He trusted Knoll but Knoll was not against going above and beyond his duty to make sure his prince was unharmed. If that meant ruining the potion…well he wouldn’t put it past him.

“I have arrived!”

Both of the dark magic users visibly cringed at the sudden loud noise. Lyon however hastily hid his dislike and approached the mermaid princess with a smile.

“Just in time Princess L’Arachel, your potion is almost ready.”

“You seem..strangely happy,” L’Arachel mused aloud, “Where’s that little shy mummy two that I saw last time?”

“Mummy two?” Lyon asked, his cheeriness gone.

“I saw a statue of your mother and you look just like her,” L’Arachel replied, “There are so many pretty statues in your coral gardens and…”

“To business then,” Lyon interrupted. He picked up the shell full of potion and held it up for her inspection, careful to be just out of her reach.

“That looks vile,” L’Arachel commented.

“Such things often do,” Lyon retorted, “However it might look a little better once I have added the final ingredient.” He saw that Knoll was giving him an odd look but ignored him. Knoll had been following the potion’s progress in a way he evidently deemed as subtle, however Lyon could see he was keeping an eye on his every move. According to Knoll the potion was finished however Lyon had one more piece of the puzzle to put into place.

“What’s the final ingredient?” L’Arachel replied with great interest.

“Your voice,” Lyon said simply. 

“My voice!” the horror was evident in her tone, “How will I talk to the humans if I cannot use my voice! How will I sing and laugh with them?!”

“I’m very sorry,” Lyon lowered his gaze to the floor and spoke gravely, “It’s the only way. Such a radical enchantment needs a strong personal binding and your voice…well it is very unique to you and its sound is the only agent we can use.”

“What if I want to communicate with them?”

“I believe the humans have a similar sense of writing, and body language is very important to them,” Lyon explained, “They also have their own forms of magic. I believe they will be able to understand you quite well.”

“Well…” She appeared to be thinking it over, “Well, I suppose that’s not too bad. How long does it last, the potion I mean?”

“A month,” Lyon lied. 

“Well being silent for a month isn’t too bad!” L’Arachel brightened, “As long as you promise to keep good care of my voice, I’ll be happy to give it to you! I’ll bring you back a souvenir from the surface too!”

“How kind of you,” Lyon replied, “Now could you please sing for me. That way I can capture your voice perfectly.”

L’Arachel nodded eagerly. The screeching that followed was unearthly. Knoll put his hands over his ears as Lyon tried to concentrate hard enough to recite his enchantment. He opened the largest shell on his necklace to reveal a glowing black pearl, covered in blood. A few words more and the purple glow turned to a green one and the shell snapped shut. The singing thankfully stopped.

“And there we have it,” Lyon said with a smirk. L’Arachel silently beamed and gestured for the potion. Lyon smirked wider.

“I’m sorry, did you want something?”

She pointed at the potion and then at herself with more insistence. Knoll gasped from behind Lyon as the prince laughed and turned his back to her. He could hear the angry thrashing of her tail as he raised an eyebrow at Knoll, who seemed more surprised than angry. 

“Why did you take her voice your highness?” the indigo merman demanded, “You weren’t going to give her the potion anyway.”   
Lyon laughed again as he headed towards the nearest exit.

“If I wasn’t going to take her voice, someone was going to. It is simply unbearable.” 

Without another look to the undoubtedly livid princess, he swam out the window as fast as his tail would allow. Finally! This was surely a dream come true, a happily ever after, everything he’d fantasised about! He’d silenced L’Arachel and now…now to become a human and take his place by his prince and princess’ sides! His life was going to be a whole lot better from now on.


End file.
